The Birmingham Mail report:

West Midlands Police considered writing off hundreds of unanswered Freedom of Information requests in a bid to slash a huge backlog of paperwork.

But the force ditched the plan, which would have affected every application made before January of this year, after it was accused of acting “arrogantly” and “possibly unlawfully”.

The details emerged at a Police and Crime Board meeting at which West Midlands Police was accused of “failing miserably” to meet its duty to respond to FOI requests.

You can read the full story here.

I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.